LONGMONT -- The foreclosure of Twin Peaks Mall has been attracting attention.

Even before Panattoni Development Co., the owners of the mall, officially had foreclosure proceedings brought against it last month by the Boulder County Public Trustee's office, it had been widely rumored that the company was significantly behind on payments to its creditor, Bank of America.

Going back a year, the city of Longmont has been fielding inquiries regarding the status of the mall, according to Brad Power, the city's economic development director. Last month's announcement attracted a few more inquiries, he said.

"There's actually been people who have expressed an interest in it, so we have been meeting with a few groups," Power said last week. "We've been contacted by folks that would be representing outside interests -- intermediaries."

The city's response to such inquiries is to provide whatever information it can: demographics of the city and surrounding area; the history of Twin Peaks Mall; information on what a public-private partnership between the city and a private entity could look like; whatever it can do to help attract a buyer.

A foreclosure sale is set for Jan. 4. Allen Ginsborg, the managing director and principal for NewMark Merrill's Mountain States Region, which manages the mall, has a great deal of experience with retail centers and was asked if a foreclosure sale typically goes through in a situation such as this.

Advertisement

"Usually, something happens before that date, but right now I can't say either way," said Ginsborg, whose company is rumored to be one of the ones considering buying the mall, though Ginsborg would not comment on that rumor.

Twin Peaks becomes merely the latest large retail center along the Front Range to find itself in financial trouble, but the circumstances are far from cookie-cutter.

"Every community is different," Power said. "And every one of these situations is slightly different, and every one of these communities is going to make their own decision as to how they want to approach it."

For example, he said, the city of Westminster bought its mall to sell it to a private-sector partner that will turn the mall property into a downtown-like district. Longmont, of course, already has its own downtown.

"My take on some of the other places is it's going to be a different context going forward, given what's happening with the real estate economy," Power said. "What's needed will be more flexibility, not less."

Power said his personal feeling is that a combination retail and entertainment district might provide the most immediate resurgence of Twin Peaks, but ultimately it will be the developer's job to put it together.

"Anything on the development side -- the one thing that has to be proven is, is there a market for it?" he said.

Josh Birks, economic adviser for the city of Fort Collins, is familiar with Longmont's situation because in 2005 he was working for a firm that conducted a study of northern Colorado retail for the city of Longmont.

"We did a pretty thorough assessment and provided some high-level strategic direction," Birks said last week. "One of those was, you need to get moving on redeveloping that mall."

Twin Peaks Mall is now part of an urban renewal planning area, which sets the stage for redevelopment once the right private partner is found.

In the case of his city's Foothills Mall, Birks said he thinks redevelopment won't change the fundamental nature of the property: It will remain primarily retail.

But the Twin Peaks situation could work out differently, he said.

"I think for Longmont it's a very different sort of environment because of its proximity to Denver and the things that have taken place along I-25," Birks said, referring to, for example, Larkridge, at Interstate 25 and Colo. Highway 7, and The Orchard Town Center in Westminster. "And within Longmont, what has happened at Harvest Junction (also owned by Panattoni).

"I think there's a lot more potential for a mixed-use redevelopment at Twin Peaks than there is for us here in Fort Collins."

Article Comments

We reserve the right to remove any comment that violates our ground rules, is spammy, NSFW, defamatory, rude, reckless to the community, etc.

We expect everyone to be respectful of other commenters. It's fine to have differences of opinion, but there's no need to act like a jerk.

Use your own words (don't copy and paste from elsewhere), be honest and don't pretend to be someone (or something) you're not.

Our commenting section is self-policing, so if you see a comment that violates our ground rules, flag it (mouse over to the far right of the commenter's name until you see the flag symbol and click that), then we'll review it.

Boulder is pretty good at producing rock bands, and by "rock," we mean the in-your-face, guitar-heavy, leather-clad variety — you know, the good kind. For a prime example, look no farther than BANDITS. Full Story